Did You Know Absinthe Is ...

• Not poisonous, and never was?• Not hallucinogenic, and never was?• Legal in the USA since the 1960s?• Not just a novelty? There are fine absinthes, just like fine wine, whisky, and cognac. Read more here:

Absinthe Evaluation Tutorial

Do you know how to tell a great absinthe from a so-so absinthe? What does one look for, or demand, in a glass of absinthe? Just as with fine wine, fine absinthe has a whole language and system for evaluation and tasting.

Reality Absinth

Product Details

Editor reviews

1 reviews

Starts out promising, then falls flat

April 11, 2008(Updated: February 21, 2009)

Overall rating

2.2

Appearance

4.0

Louche

2.0

Aroma

3.0

Flavor / Mouthfeel

1.0

Finish

1.0

Overall

2.0

Upon first seeing the Reality in the glass without the addition of water, one can believe that they might be in for a nice experience. The color is an inviting deep peridot green.The addition of water brings about a very light haze. You can't even call it a louche. It's quite pitiful.
The aroma is weedy and herbal with an alcoholic bite.The flavor is the worst thing about this absinthe. Upon hitting the tongue, there isn't much flavor to be experienced, it's very light and bland. However, once it makes its way to the back of the throat, you get the unmistakable harsh bitterness and astringency of macerated A.A.
Overall, this absinthe is unacceptable. The color is there, but no louche and terrible flavor. Not worth spending money on.

The colour is very profound, green and what not. Taking into account a big stalk of hyssop in the bottle, it is no wonder the colouration is an on-going process.

Louche is very delicate, it does louche, but gets only slight opalescence.

Aroma is strong, sometimes too strong due to the overcolouration. Pleasant in a sense if nothing fascinating.

Absinthe tastes of macerated wormwood and macerated herbs (hyssop the most dominant there) from the bottle. Taste reflects the strength of the aroma.

Definitely, absinthe should not be coloured at such a low abv as 60% and leaving some of the colouring herbs in the bottle is a no-no, absinthe is not a borovicka (where in many a case, we can see a big juniper right in the bottle, but doing little to no harm, though).

Reality absinth is one of my favorites by far. I have had many bottles of the stuff. The color of the liquor before water is added is a deep green which I enjoy seeing. It is hard to get the louche to come out and play, you have to mix it slowly and with sugar for sure. Once it changes it becomes a cloudy swirling hazy green, which I have heard people describe as swamp water. As for the aroma, it is bitter with herbal tones and a definate alcohol tinge. This is a very bitter absinth! If you do not like bitters do not buy this, I love the taste of reality. The finish, once again is bitter, so I gave it a 2. Overall this is a High quality, all natural czech absinth. I will certainly be buying much more.

[editor's note: The review doesn't make much sense. Giving a louche and aroma of 3 and a finish of 2, then an overall of 5?]

This was my third bottle and the chezc version is defiantly not my style of absinthe. I prefer the French style with a hypnotizing luoche. Reality looks really cool but taste awful, close to throwing up haha. But the effects are unparallel. Not really much of a louche.